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Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Beer is Cheaper Than Juice! It's Paradise.

Finally, as I promised, here is the first installment of my vacation posts. I went to Punta Cana, DR to celebrate my sister's 30th birthday with her and 4 more of her friends.

There are always so many little happenings on trips that get forgetten. Hopefully by documenting this trip via blog, it will be a diary/scrapbook for me and a way to share my trip with y'all.

Day 1

It started at 2:45 AM. The cab was late to pick us up, therefore I was in a little bit of a panic. But it worked out perfect. By the time we got through TSA and I chugged some Starbucks, it was time to board.

The only set back was that I lost my favorite beach hat. It was too big and floppy to fit in my bag, so I was carrying it in my hand. I set it down on the check in desk while I moved my running shoes from my checked bag (which was 1.5 lbs over the weight limit) to my carry on. I guess that is where it stayed. I tried lost & found on our way back through Houston, but no luck!

Here is my beloved, now lost hat at the New Orleans Food & Wine Festival with my Ponkies.

We had breakfast while layed over in the Miami airport. Egg white omelets are always a winner. Then we bought booze at the duty free store, and boarded. I sat next to a couple from Baton Rouge on the plane! Gotta love finding fellow Louisiana's when traveling.

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South Beach

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Bahamas

More Bahamian islands

More Bahamas or Turks & Caicos?

The Punta Cana airport is the only privately owned international airport in the world. Or at least that is what someone told me. I didn't fact check this tid bit.

Customs was a joke. We could have smuggled chinchillas into the country and no one would have cared.

We all cramed into a taxi with our luggage and headed to our condo.

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Sarah had to hold my bag in her lap in order for us to fit.

Once arriving to the condo, half stayed for a tour of the grounds and half went to the grocery store. I was in the grocery store group. Adventure is an understatement. Our taxi driver came inside to shop with us and push our buggy, but he spoke NO english. As a matter of fact, no one at the grocery store spoke english.

Highlights of the grocery store:
-Avocados the size of canteloupes. Linsey wouldn't let me buy any because she said I would get E. coli. :(
-Beer is cheaper per ounce than juice! :)
-Nothing was priced in dollars and we had no idea what the conversion rate was.
-There were lots of American brands, like Lays, Tostitos, Yoplait, Ritz, etc.

our condo/villa

It was close to 6:00 PM when we got back to the condo (Punta Cana is Eastern time zone, so only 1 hour difference from home), and I just wanted to see the beach! We put on swimsuits and walked 2 minutes to the gorgeous blue waters.

After frolicking a little while, we realized it had been over 12 hours since we had a proper meal, so we walked to a restaurant on property called Balicana. It was Asian style food and was adjacent to the pool.

Linsey and I jumped in the pool, but were told by staff that the pool closes at 6:30 so had to get out. :(

We ordered a round of Presidente, the national beer. Then we ordered another round, and another round, and another round. Sarah and I split some pad thai. She said it was burnt, but I was too many beers in to even notice.

I was looking rough! It was a long day.

Carrie and I found coconuts! I was so excited! Little did we know they were EVERYWHERE on property.

We had an impromtu dance party back at the condo with Lady Gaga, then it was bed time. We had to get up early the next morning to meet Rafael for surf lessons! :)